Posted on 06/30/2015 2:57:46 PM PDT by elhombrelibre
The regime of longtime Syrian strongman Bashar Assad is struggling at levels unseen during the nation’s 4-year-old civil war, ramping up pressure on allies Iran and Russia to either abandon or double down on their support for the Syrian leader, U.S. intelligence officials say.
While world headlines focus on the push for a nuclear accord between the West and Iran, Syria’s civil war is approaching what several officials described to The Washington Times as a “tipping point,” with various jihadi forces gaining ground against Mr. Assad’s government forces in several parts of the nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I notice a trend of “Syria on the verge of collapse” stories swirling everywhere in the last month.
It really has the feel of a propaganda storm designed to try to create a reality on the ground on behalf of ISIS,,,oops, I mean the moderate sunni Syrian opposition.
This doesn’t smell right,
Many U.S. analysts say the Obama administration’s hopes of building up moderate forces, not the Islamic State, to fight Mr. Assad’s government are too optimistic and that Washington’s leverage — with Russia, Iran or the various jihadi groups now dominating the war — is limited at best.
“I just don’t think there’s about to be a recalculation by the Russians and the Iranians,” said Joshua Landis, a longtime Syria analyst who heads the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “They’re going to hang on and hope Assad gets through this without collapsing so they’ll have a piece of the pie at whatever negotiating table may one day come to the fore.
“The standard American goal is they would like to reach some kind of balance where Assad feels the need to negotiate and leave Syria, but he’s not going to leave. It’s just not going to happen,” said Mr. Landis. “The trouble is that there are so many moving parts to this war and the U.S. has almost no leverage at this point.
Syria is definitely the biggest bad outcome of the administration Wizards of Smart idea ‘Arab Spring’. Ironically Israel may be the ultimate gainer by the descent of much of the Arab Middle East into protracted chaos and anarchy.
“described to The Washington Times as a “tipping point,” with various jihadi forces gaining ground against Mr. Assad’s government forces in several parts of the nation.”
And we are on the side of the jihadis. If this is story anywhere close to true, (I suspect it isn’t) Syrian Christians should flee to safety quickly before Assad falls and Obama and McCains side wins.
Also has come out and I do look at the stories with a skeptical eye but concede it is possible are the stories that Assad/the Regime could use poisonous gases on a large scale. They have “reportedly” bombed on a large scale.
IF Assad is pushed out, he helped Al Qaeda in Iraq along with Iran in fomenting trouble there because they wanted trouble for the USA, Assad has avoided bombing ISIS while bombing other rebels. Putin and Assad have helped ISIS, Russia has funded the war there.
That story on the Alawites posted here the other day had them saying that yes, Assad has pushed them into war. It is only a crafted myth that Assad is a friend of the Christians, Assad is only protecting himself.
http://en.qantara.de/content/syrian-christians-and-the-assad-regime-assad-is-only-protecting-himself
False choice. For decades Christians have lived in Syria normally. When ISIS or the rebels take over an area, they are murdered, crucified, enslaved, and churches are demolished.
NO matter what the propaganda masters are pushing, I ain’t buying that the Christians are in more danger from Assad than from the rebels. I also do not buy the fiction that the rebels are not defacto the same entity.
Moderate rebel means sunni jihadi, another word for al qeida.
These headlines “Syria reaches tipping point” have been making the rounds for the last couple years.
I’ll take the word of those who witness the conflict first hand in Lebanon rather than the propagandists and their made up stories.
So, the solution is for the 12% Alawite clan to kill the 60% plus Sunni population? Not that those surrounding nations will stand for that.
Considering the stellar job Assad and his father did in decimating the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists and the new false front Muslim Brotherhood "political" organization before Obama and the Socialist DemoRats allied with them using "Arab Spring" insurrections to create proto Caliphate States, ...I'll go with the kill 60% option.
And in turn, Christians get killed, thus, that is the problem with Assad, hasn’t defended Christians has he? He’s lost half the country.
And Syria in turn, helped bomb the Marine Barracks in Lebanon.
They, Assad, dumped Al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq to fight the US.
If this is who you support, so be it.
It would be more accurate to say Obama and the Socialist DemoRats haven't defended Christians, that's who is supporting and arming "Arab Spring rebels" (read ISIS terrorists) that Assad has to fight through to get to Christians. Again "rebel" (terrorists), armed by HomoFacista Hillary Clinton and HomoMuerto Christopher Stevens.
He’s lost half the country.
Big surprise, there, along with the inability to protect Christians.
And Syria in turn, helped bomb the Marine Barracks in Lebanon.
On orders from Islamist Iran, which exists because Communist DemoRat Jimmah Carter delivered a free Iran with freedom of religion for Jews, Christians and Muslims, to the Communists by supporting an insurrection and coup of the Shah's government.
They, Assad, dumped Al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq to fight the US.
Are these the ones who assassinated Nasser, Sadat, or the attempts on Mubarak? Assad can not possibly support terrorists worse than the terrorists than Obama and the Socialist DemoRats support and arm, they don't exist.
Let us not kid ourselves. The choice is ISIS or Assad with nukes like Iran with Russia. Coming to think of it, Saddam with nukes or IsIS idiots, I’d rather neutralize the interconinental ballistic threat.
Let us not kid ourselves. The choice has always been made by Socialist DemoRats.
Iran, under the Shah, would never have pursued nuclear warheads or ballistic missiles aimed at the US, but Socialist DemoRats fixed that.
Saddam was pursuing both, and Bush wanted to expose it and put an end to it, but Socialist DemoRats fixed that.
Several US Presidents negotiated and forced Libya's Qaddafi to renounce, turn over and cooperate on all nuclear disarmament plus stabilize Libya, but Obama and Socialist DemoRats fixed that.
Assad was at least not murdering Christians and Kurds, but Obama and Socialist DemoRats fixed that.
There is nothing that Socialist DemoRats have not turned into a disaster in the past 70 years. It's time we stopped supporting them, or nothing will ever get better including strategic thermonuclear threat.
Spot on. You see through the lies and deceptions.
We’ll probably agree that there are no good guys now in Syria. But the facts are that Assad is truly in real trouble. If he survives, it will be because Iran becomes even more involved in Syria with more troops and more money. Real estate is a one indicator of how a war is going. It’s going badly for Assad. Had he really turned on ISIS and al Qaeda instead of those not aligned with them he might have some chance. The chance he has now is very low. And like Putin (and Obama), he’s never figured out that the fate of his country is more important than his wealth and power.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.